Bay Area counties brace for influx of inmates

STATE BUDGET Concerns of cash shortfall, crime spike as state shifts inmates

Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published
4:00 am PDT, Monday, July 11, 2011

Inmates of the San Francisco County Jail number 5 congregate in the housing unit, Thursday July 7, 2011, in San Bruno, Calif. San Francisco is bracing for an influx of new prisoners as the state shifts some of its inmate population to the counties. less

Inmates of the San Francisco County Jail number 5 congregate in the housing unit, Thursday July 7, 2011, in San Bruno, Calif. San Francisco is bracing for an influx of new prisoners as the state shifts some of ... more

Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle

Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle

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Inmates of the San Francisco County Jail number 5 congregate in the housing unit, Thursday July 7, 2011, in San Bruno, Calif. San Francisco is bracing for an influx of new prisoners as the state shifts some of its inmate population to the counties. less

Inmates of the San Francisco County Jail number 5 congregate in the housing unit, Thursday July 7, 2011, in San Bruno, Calif. San Francisco is bracing for an influx of new prisoners as the state shifts some of ... more

Photo: Lacy Atkins, The Chronicle

Bay Area counties brace for influx of inmates

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Tens of thousands of convicted felons and parole violators in California will be diverted from state prison to county supervision, sending local criminal justice officials scrambling to meet the added demands on their jails, probation offices, courts and social services, all without any assurance of adequate funding.

Local law enforcement authorities anticipate a jump in crime with fewer criminals locked up in state prisons and worry about more trouble behind bars in the county lockups.

"I think people should be concerned, but I don't think they should panic," said San Francisco Sheriff Michael Hennessey.

Bay Area sheriffs have calculated the number of inmates they expect to handle under realignment, but stress that the figures are estimates. The inmate population in San Francisco could balloon by about 42 percent. Alameda County is projecting a 21 percent increase, and in Marin County, the bounce would be an estimated 44 percent. Contra Costa County is preparing for a 15 percent increase. Not everyone will end up behind bars, however. Some offenders will serve out their time on electronically monitored home detention, probation, supervised work crews or in other alternatives to incarceration.

Supreme Court ruling

The new policy, pushed by Gov. Jerry Brown and approved by the Legislature, helped close the state's $26 billion budget deficit and will be used to decrease unhealthy and dangerous overcrowding in California's prisons. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in May that the state must drastically cut its prison population over the next two years.

The change also is intended to reduce California's high recidivism rate by placing more emphasis on crime prevention and rehabilitation through services and programs at the local level.

The target population will be newly sentenced lower-level offenders - those convicted of nonserious, nonviolent and nonsexual violations, such as property theft, drunken driving and minor drug offenses - and new parole violators who aren't on parole for serious crimes.

California counties will be handling between 30,000 and 40,000 additional offenders at any given time once the program is in full swing.

Ideally, offenders who end up in county care will be provided with support services, such as drug treatment, violence-prevention programs, family counseling, job training and high school classes for those who never graduated.

"The concept is a good one, and provides a lot of opportunity," said San Mateo County Sheriff Greg Munks. "Instead of warehousing these inmates in mega-complexes far from home, we can have them closer to their families and to the organizations that can help them."

But the $5.5 million the state will provide San Mateo County under the new program "doesn't even begin to cover the costs," he added. His jails, built for 834 inmates, now house 1,000. Munks expects about 400 more once the realignment policy is fully implemented.

$5 billion allotted

The state set aside about $5 billion to help counties handle their added responsibilities; the initiatives will save the state about $1 billion in the nine months remaining in the fiscal year after implementation.

The funding is supposed to pay not only for more jail beds, but also for more probation officers, court staff, attorneys and support services.

Hennessey, who has championed alternatives to incarceration and in-custody support services during his 31 years on the job, would seem likely to be a strong advocate for realignment. But he has serious concerns. He anticipates his jail population will expand from 1,550 today to 2,200 by late 2012. The $5.5 million allotment from the state for San Francisco will fall short, he says.

"There are going to be management challenges and funding challenges," he said.

Dire prediction

Munks predicted another troubling consequence by changing where repeat offenders - who make up a majority of the state prison population - serve their time. Many are likely to be in home detention or supervised probation rather than in state prison.

"There's going to be an increase in crime; there's no way around it," he said. But he offered hope. "When we get through the transition, we should have more positive outcomes."

Wendy Still, San Francisco's chief adult probation officer, agreed.

Each of the state's 58 counties must craft a realignment strategy. A well-designed system, Still said, will tailor a case-management plan for each offender and assess his or her risk of committing crime again to determine the appropriate services and setting to serve out sentences - an approach already under way in San Francisco.

But with limited resources, she said, wish lists will have to be whittled, and "tough choices are going to have to be made."